This had only to do only with David and her.
Something she thought must be hope for her future blossomed within her. She raised her face for another of David's tender kisses. How, in the course of a single evening, could she and David had fallen in love with each other? How had such a miracle happened?
"Talbot?" Reid Campbell's voice came from the far side of the arbor. "Is that you grappling with Miss Chesterton there in the bushes?"
"Damnit," David muttered and pulled Livi to her feet. As they stepped out onto the path, Campbell's gaze scorched over them.
"How could you steal the guest of honor away from her birthday celebration? Didn't you think people would notice?"
At Campbell's words, David's stepped protectively between the Livi and him. "It was just a lovely night for a walk."
Campbell's eyes narrowed as if he sensed some subtle change in David, and it unsettled him.
"You just better get her back to the house," he warned and stalked away.
David and Livi followed, and when the stepped into the parlor a few minutes later the guests all turned to stare at them.
"Olivia!" Her father boomed and the musicians fell silent. "Surely your mother and I have taught you better than to ignore your guests."
Heat flared in Livi's face, at being chastised in front of their neighbors. "Indeed you have, father. I'm sorry."
"You should be apologizing to these good folks, instead of me."
Livi nodded and turned to the room full of avid faces and fought to keep her voice from quaking. "I 'm sorry not to have been a better hostess since all of you were kind enough to help me celebrate my birthday."
Livi slid a glance at where David was standing just inside the doors. He was flushed with anger on her behalf, and it was only Reid Campbell's restraining hand on David's arm that kept him from reproaching her father. For himself, it was clear from the expression on Campbell's face said that he had judged her and found her unworthy of his friend.
As the guests took their leave, Richard Chesterton ordered Livi to his side as if she were one of his dogs. As she bid each of their guests a proper good-bye, David dared not approach her.
Instead Livi followed him with her eyes the way the tides follow the moon, and when their gazes met, the world around them fell away and they might as well have been alone.
Only when Livi escaped to her bedroom once the guests were gone was she able to reflect on how being with David Talbot had changed her.
She stepped before the looking glass clad only in her chemise and wondered what David saw when he looked at her. A tall girl with wide green eyes and long coppery hair. A pale child-woman with a vulnerable mouth, as unsure of herself as a yearling colt.
What is it in me that should inspire David's love? What is it that makes him want me as his wife?
With trembling hands she drew the soft muslin close against her breasts and hips and imagined it was David's big hands molding the fabric in place. She imagined how he might touch her in places that were vulnerable and forbidden, caress her in ways that might bring both of them pleasure.
Her mouth went dry as dust as she considered it.
She seemed never to have been alive inside this skin until tonight. Until David drew her to him and kissed her. Until she began to sense the wondrous things that could pass between a man and a woman.
Now that David had declared how much he cared for her, the shackles of her father's house chaffed at her. How could she bear the rituals of courtship when her wedding might lie a full year away? How could she wait when all she wanted was to be with David?
The woman that looked back at her from the mirror was not the girl she'd seen in the mirror as she'd prepared to greet her guests. For the first time in her life, she liked what she saw.
This is me, she told herself with a lift of her chin. This is Olivia Elizabeth Chesterton, and David Talbot loves me.
* * *
Livi rushed up the wide front stairs, invigorated by her morning ride and by seeing David Talbot. They'd met down by the river the last three mornings. Half hidden among the towering chestnuts that grew along the bank, she'd held David's hand and touched his face. She'd learned to kiss him in ways that were both naughty and utterly delicious. Each of their meetings had filled Livi with energy, confidence and hope. This morning she'd come into the house singing.
Finding her half-packed trunk in the middle of the upstairs hall was the first sign of trouble. The second was her maid's evasion when Livi asked why it was there. The third was a summons to her father's study. No good had ever befallen her there.
Richard Chesterton was seated at his desk in the hot, cramped room at the back of the house. With an imperious nod he motioned her to a chair.
"Olivia," he began, "David Talbot came by to see me this morning—"
Livi could feel the leap in her pulse. David had not mentioned that he was coming to see her father.
"—to ask permission to pay you court."
Livi nodded, relieved. She hadn't liked meeting David in secret.
"I want you to know," he went on, "I sent young Talbot packing."
Livi gasped. "You sent him away?"
"Your mother and I never expected you to attract the kind of wealthy, influential men your sisters did, but it never occurred to us that you'd be attracted to someone like him."
"But I love David!" she cried.
Her father gave a derisive snort. "Posh, girl! What could you possibly know about love?"
"I know that David is the kindest, most gentle man I've ever met. That he makes me feel as if I'm someone special!"
Richard Chesterton rose to stand over her. "Surely you can see how unsuitable Talbot is for you. He's the son of James Campbell's indentured servants, for God's sake!"
The truth was, Livi hadn't known who David's family was. In the minutes they'd managed to steal, they'd only spoken of their feelings for each other. Because David was such fast friends with Reid Campbell, she had assumed David was from one of Virginia's established families.
"Do you have any idea how he makes his living?"
Livi heard the condemnation in her father's tone.
"He's a blacksmith. It's honest work, I grant you, but he can't afford to keep a wife, much less in the style to which you are accustomed."
"If you give us your permission to wed, we'll find a way," Livi insisted, her voice unraveling. "That David loves me is all that matters."
"But I wonder if it's really you he loves."
"Of course he loves me." That was the one thing of which Livi was utterly sure.
"Yes, but did he fall in love with you because you are so fair of face? Witty and accomplished?" Her father loomed over her. "Because you're exactly the kind of wife a blacksmith needs?"
"I don't know why David loves me. He just does."
"I think your David Talbot took one look at this house, at this land, at the horses and the slaves, and he thought, 'I could learn to love this man's daughter. I could marry her and have an easy life.'"
"No!"
"He saw that with a little flattery and a few stolen kisses he could win your heart. And he has, hasn't he?"
Livi tasted bile.
"It's the a planter's life he's romancing, Olivia. Not you."
"David loves me!" she cried.
It was David's gift to see her for who she was, see her goodness and hidden beauty. She wanted to believe those were the things he saw in her more than she wanted to see the next day dawn.
Her father shrugged. "Well, delude yourself if you like, but your mother and I have decided you should go and stay with your aunt Gwendolyn in Charles Town until your infatuation with David Talbot passes. "
"I won't go to Charles Town! I won't give David Talbot up!"
Richard Chesterton clamped his fingers around her arm and jerked her to her feet. "You'll go to Charles Town, my girl—either seated in the carriage or trussed up like a Christmas goose."
"Father, please!"
"I'll cou
ntenance neither this mismatch nor your defiance. In time we'll secure a proper alliance for you. But mark me well—you'll never marry David Talbot!"
Sobbing, Livi pulled free and ran for the back door. She raced through the gardens to the arbor where she and David had discovered their love for each other just a few nights before.
But even there, she couldn't hide from the questions her father had raised. Why hadn't David told her who his parent's were or that he was a tradesman? Instead, he'd told her she was beautiful, desirable, and clever. He swore that he loved her–and she had believed him.
But had David made an honest declaration of his feelings, or was he was a poor man hoping to better his lot? In either case, she needed to talk to David. She'd send a message and arrange a meeting. Once they were together again, she'd be able to look into those warm dark eyes and read the truth.
* * *
But at dawn the next day when Livi and her sister Arabella were bundled into the Chesterton coach, Livi had not heard from David. Though she tried to make excuses, her father's accusations echoed in her ears. The notion that she might be wrong about David's intentions shredded the fabric of her self-respect.
When the time came for her to climb into the carriage, she did it without kissing her mother good-bye or saying a word to her father. In spite of being betrayed by her family and possibly by David, Livi knew she would always love him. Convinced that the role of outcast suited her, she sank back into the carriage squabs and closed her eyes.
* * *
Mist boiled up as thick as cotton batting as the carriage turned onto the river road. The day matched Livi's mood. Though she was broken-hearted that David hadn't even tried to contact her, she knew she'd carry his memory with her to the end of her days.
Not five miles beyond the gates of Chesterton Oaks, the coach jerked to a stop, tossing Livi and her sister about inside. Livi scrambled to the window to see what was wrong and saw a mounted highwayman brandishing a pistol.
"Hold up! We won't harm you," the man called out. She immediately recognized Reid Campbell's voice. "All my friend wants is a word with one of your passengers."
A moment later a second masked man, this one with sun-bright hair curling around the ties of his mask appeared at the window on the opposite side of the carriage.
"David?" Livi gasped. "Have you come to rescue me?"
"Indeed I have," he said with a grin.
"I'm afraid, Mr. Talbot," Arabella spoke up, "that Father has forbidden Olivia any contact with you."
"But I will speak with him, Bella," Livi said as she flung open the carriage door. "And Father can go to the devil."
David handed her down from the coach They stepped into the edge of the woods before he spoke.
"When I asked your father for permission to court you," he said intently, "he told me he'd rather see you in hell than married to me." David tugged of his mask and stepped in close. "But I need you to hear you say you don't love me, before I walk away."
The turmoil in his eyes settled any questions she might have had about his feelings for her. "You're the man I love, David, and I want to be with you always."
"You will marry me, then? Without your father's consent?"
"If you'll accept me as your wife without land or dowry."
"Did he really tell you what I wanted was your fortune?" When Livi nodded, he drew her closer.
"Nothing in this world means more to me, Livi, than you do! But if you choose to become my wife, you should know I'll never be able to give you the life you're used to, the big house, the servants and fancy clothes. I'm a blacksmith and a sharecropper. But I'll gladly share everything I have."
She looked up at him. "While what you see is what I'll be giving up, I see all I have to gain. I'll have a man who loves me, a man who wants me as much as I want him."
"Then you'll come with me now?" he asked her.
"I will."
"And we'll be married?"
When she nodded, a smile dawned on David's face. "This evening?"
"If you like."
In answer, he kissed her then turned back toward the coach. While David unstrapped her trunk and Reid Campbell unhitched the coach horses, Arabella argued with her sister.
"Olivia, darling, if you marry a man like him, you'll live in a one-room shack, work from dawn to dark, and ruin your figure having a baby every year."
Livi persisted in gathering her belongings from the coach.
"You'll never have luxuries like tea or chocolate or oranges," Bella went on. "You'll never own another silk dress!"
David came to where the two women were standing. "What your sister says is true," he confirmed. "It isn't too late for you to change your mind."
Livi's took her sister's hands. "None of that matters as long I'm with David. I love him, Bella, really I do."
"Father will never forgive you for defying him!" Arabella wailed. "None of us will be allowed to see or even write you letters you after today."
Livi knew her father to be a vindictive man who did not tolerate defiance. He would disown Livi rather than accept her marriage, and her mother agree to it.
Losing contact with her sisters was the only forfeit Livi was reluctant to make. Behind her, she heard David swing into the saddle and knew it was time to go.
Livi threw her arms around her sister. "Tell Mama and Papa they forced me to make this choice."
"Oh, Livi, don't do this," Arabella sobbed. "What will Papa say when he finds out I've let you slip away?"
"Tell him it wasn't your fault, Bella. Tell him I'm choosing the man I love more than anything Chesterton Oaks can offer me."
Livi slid one foot into the stirrup and let David hoist her up behind him onto his leggy bay. He wheeled the gelding away, leaving Reid Campbell to take up Livi's trunk and wallow in their wake.
Livi wept against David's back for a good long while, struggling with the choice that had been forced upon her. But as the day advanced and her misery waned, she began to notice that the road was heavily traveled and that prosperous farmsteads speckled the landscape. In mid-afternoon, David pulled up before a well-kept inn.
The innkeeper welcomed them and ushered them to a simple, well-scrubbed bed chamber. From David's conversation, Livi gathered that this was to be the site of their wedding, their marriage celebration, and their first night as man and wife.
She flushed at the thought, only vaguely aware of what that first night might entail. But before she could ask him, David left to find a parson.
Not long after, Reid Campbell came in with her humpbacked trunk and dropped it to the floor with a resounding crash.
"Thank you for your help today," Livi offered shyly. They were the first words she had spoken directly to Campbell since her birthday fete.
"No need to thank me. I'm doing this for David, not for you."
"I'll do my best to be a good wife to him!"
"Yes, I suppose you will," he conceded. "But surely even you can see that what David needs is a helpmate. Someone who'll work as hard as he does, who'll encourage him to pursue his dreams."
"I will work hard," she insisted, desperate to win Campbell's good will. "And what are these dreams my marrying him will undermine?"
Campbell's black brows lifted. "If David hasn't told you what they are, it's certainly not my place to do tell you."
"Then just how is it your place to condemn me, Mr. Campbell?" Livi was nearly as surprised that she'd spoken up to him as Campbell.
He glared at her for a moment. "I dare to condemn you, Olivia Chesterton, because I know what's best for David. I know him better than he knows himself. And because any fool can see you're too damn delicate to be the help-mate David needs."
"But I love him, Mr. Campbell!"
"Yes." Reid shook his head as he turned to go. "I'm afraid you do."
* * *
If she'd stayed and married the man of her parents' choosing, her mother might have assured her that all brides were beautiful on their wedding day. But even here
alone, Livi didn't need that reassurance. Dressed in a blue-and-ivory gown of ribboned silk and a Belgian lace cap, Livi felt beautiful. Sure of herself and utterly joyous. And it was that David was taking her as his bride that made her feel that way.
The wedding party consisted of David and her, a minister, Reid Campbell and the innkeeper as witnesses. How David had arranged for a parson to hear their vows, Livi didn't know, but she took comfort in knowing that once they spoke the sacred words they'd be wed in the eyes of the church and nothing could separate them.
"Well, my children," Reverend Schofield intoned, opening his prayer book, "shall we begin?"
Clutching the small bouquet of wild asters and Michaelmas daisies David had picked for her, Livi smiled up at the man who was about to become her husband. At the brush of his hand, joy spun through her, carrying with it a sense of tenderness, acceptance and trust.
"Dearly beloved," the reverend began, standing before the window in their room, "we are gathered here today to join the lives and spirits of David and Olivia..."
Yet it seemed to Livi that she and David were already joined. From that first clasp of hands they had known that they would be together—rise together each morning and lie down beside each other every night, share life's joys and sorrows all their days. Looking into each other's eyes, they repeated the reverend's words, declaring that they loved each other and belonged together.
When the ceremony was over, David clasped her fingers in his and brushed a kiss across her lips. Livi kissed him back and blinked away happy tears.
The wedding supper down in the taproom passed in a blur. Reverend Schofield ate sparingly and took his leave. Reid Campbell watched David and Livi with smoldering eyes, drank deep and finally wended his way down the hall to his own bedchamber.
When the door to their own room was bolted behind them, David crossed to where Livi stood.
"I love you," he whispered.
"And I love you."
He touched her hair, her cheek, as if she were an illusion a careless caress could shatter. He lowered his head and kissed her with exquisite delicacy, like dew on rose petals, like down drifting in the wind.
A Place Called Home Page 10